BlizzCon 2016 World of Warcraft: What’s Next Panel Transcript

Patch 7.2 PvP

Hazzikostas: Let’s talk about PvP. In 7.2, what we want to do (and of course, having a new season and building upon the reward structures) is we want to introduce a new way, a new mode of PvP gameplay: PvP Brawls. These are very much inspired by Brawls in Hearthstone, Brawls in Overwatch. It is something we have seen and enjoyed a lot playing other Blizzard games. The idea here is a week long event that isn’t necessarily up every single week. It could be every other week. We will nail that down, but some of these vary up the gameplay. Some of these change the rules, and let’s you jump into PvP in a new and different way. The goals of the system, in line with what Brawls serve in other Blizzard games, we want to add variation to the Battlegrounds experience.

Arathi Basin is awesome. Warsong Gulch is awesome. Many have been playing these maps for a little over 12 years now, and sometimes a little twist on that experience is welcome. It also gives us a chance to experiment with some new ideas. If you want to try changing the rulesets a little bit, or trying some new match types and new game types, but we don’t know for sure how they are going to play out, if they are really going to have legs, if they are fond as a little test we did internally, or if these are somethings people would want to do for months or years to come.

This was like sort of an experiment with some of those rulesets. Some of those changes, and the most successful Brawls could very well find themselves as permanent fixtures in the PvP landscape; and finally, the goal is for you to be playing and have fun, and it let’s us do some things that are wacky, a little more different, and it’s OK, because it’s just around for a week, and if you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.

So let’s take a look at a video highlighting a few of these types, and then we will talk about it on the other side.

There are many Brawls planned. Much like Micro Holidays, that sort of thing. This is an expandable system where we can keep adding new content. Let’s talk real quick about some of the things we just saw. First off, there was Southshore vs Tarren Mill. The return of the anniversary battleground. 40v40 crazyness in Hillsbrad.

Next, a slight variation on Warsong. It’s just a Warsong Gulch map, but how does Capture-the-Flag play if you can cap their flag even if you don’t have your own? How does that changes strategies? How do you change your approach to this time-honored map? We will see!

Next, Pack House is what we call this. What if drew two 15-player raid groups into one of our standard arenas like Blade’s Edge, or Nagrand? What does that look like? is it balanced? I can promise it won’t be; but will it be crazy? Probably.

Gravity Lapse. That’s a little Eye of the Storm cameo you saw there. The basic rules of gravity doesn’t necessarily apply when you are in Netherstorm.

Winter Arathi Basin is one of the cooler ones. No pun intended. Sorry. Actually, I didn’t intend (that). It is Arathi Basin, except of course, a Blizzard has descended upon it; and it is not just a cosmetic change, you actually have very low visibility. You can only see 50-60 yards around you. So if you are up in the Lumber Mill, you certainly can’t see what other people are doing . You better communicate well as you plan your assault, or plan your defense. Of course, since it is winter all the water is frozen over. So you can just ride over all of it. Should be a cool twist.

Finally, one that wasn’t actually on the video, but it is a personal favorite. One of my favorite PvP World Quests is the Bearback Brawl one up in Stormheim, where everyone can jump on various mounts, and this is a Ram mount that you can get that will just send whoever you hit flying. What would the Eye of the Storm battleground be like if everyone was permanently on Ram mounts? We will find out!

Tomas Hernandez is owner of Blizzplanet.com since 2003. I post news about World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard Careers, and the Warcraft film.

Blizzplanet is a leading fansite covering news about upcoming Blizzard Entertainment licensed products. I also post previews and reviews. I have interviewed book writers and Blizzard game developers.

I was previously an employee of the OGaming Network (2003), and IncGamers (2008-2010). I was a guest newsposter for GosuGamers (World of Warcraft) a few years ago and for Diablofans.com (formerly Diablo3.com)

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